[This article was first published in Army Sustainment Professional Bulletin, which was then called Army Logistician, volume 2, number 6 (November–December 1970), pages 34–35. The text, including any biographical note, is reproduced as faithfully as possible to enable searchability. To view any images and charts in the article, refer to the issue itself, available on DVIDS and the bulletin’s archives at asu.army.mil/alog/.]

PROLOGUE: August 1968. Stripped to the waist, a canteen cup of coffee on the field desk, the floor littered with cigarette butts, Sergeant Pete McGurk, two Spec. 5’s, and a Pfc. Sweated, swore, and worked long and late in the stinking heat of the supply tent of Head and Head Company, 2d Ordnance Battalion, Long Binh, Vietnam.

Why aren't they over at the club with their buddies enjoying tall, cold ones and listening to discs from the “world”? Why? Well, it’s like this — the “M” modifier hasn't been invented yet and monthly requisitions have gotta be finished, jeeped over to USAR-V, keypunched, and on the transceiver not later than 0600 hours tomorrow. Sorry ‘bout that!

PETE McGURK, a hardheaded supply sergeant of the old school suspicious of new systems and gimmicks the logisticians keep dreaming up, scratched his head and pondered, “WHAT is the “M” modifier? HOW does it work? WHO does it benefit?”

It is a method of expressing in one document quantities ranging from 100,000 through 9,999,000 without exceeding the limitations of the five positions provided in the quantity field of a MILSTRIP document. One “M”-modified document can do the work of up to 100 unmodified documents.

It works by placing an “’M” in card column 29 of card formats. It indicates the quantity is expressed in thousands. The actual number of thousands are the figures preceding the “M.” The five-digit “M”-modified input quantity is converted to full numerics by the many computers that store the records at the national inventory control points (NlCP) and depots, and produce all output cards with five digits “M”-modified.

Use of the “M” modifier benefits just about everyone in the logistics of small arms ammunition — the requisitioner, the NICP, and the depot storage and transportation people. While using this technique eases the burden of preparing multiple requisitions for the large requisitioner, it does not take away the capability of the small requisitioner to express his needs, since quantities under 100,000 can still be accommodated by the system.

Ever since MILSTRIP was implemented in 1962 — in fact, even before that when the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps pioneered a single line item card requisitioning system — restriction to five digits for quantity expression imposed a hardship on large consumers of certain items. It meant that a requisitioner requiring more than 99,999 units of an item was forced to submit multiple requisitions to make his needs known to a supply source. In August 1968, when Pete McGurk had to prepare 1,343 separate requisitions to tell the U.S. Army Ammunition Procurement and Supply Agency (USAAPSA) of their small arms ammunition needs, it became apparent to the logisticians at the U.S. Army Materiel Command (USAMC) that this situation had to be remedied — fast.

In December 1968, USAMC reactivated a suspended project and assigned it to the AMC Logistic Systems Support Agency (LSSA) to develop and implement a system to cut down on the staggering volume of cards involved in requisitioning, processing, shipping, handling, receiving, and issuing small arms ammunition.

Paperwork Multiplies

Additional study revealed that the requisitions Sergeant McGurk and his boys finally got out just under the wire at 0545 hours that August morning in Vietnam had mushroomed at an alarming rate after receipt by USAAPSA. The requirement was for 56,000,000 rounds of 5.56-mm. for the M16; 46,000,000 rounds of 7.62-mm. — the so-called NATO round — for the M14’s used by ARVN forces at that time, the M60 machinegun, and the minigun; and 32,000,000 rounds of the old standby, .30 caliber ammunition. It took 1,343 requisitions in multiples of 99,999 rounds each to cover this typical monthly requirement. “M”-modified, it would have come to exactly 15. The 1,343 requisitions normally would generate 1,343 status cards and 1,343 materiel release orders (MRO), which, in turn, would generate 1,343 materiel release confirmations (MRC); that is, if all went well. Add to these the numbers of MRO’s for remote storage sites, split shipments, follow-ups, requisition modifiers, cancellations, denials, and subsequent inventories; the transportation documents; and the internal control documents at the NICP’s, depots, logistics control offices, and terminals. The figure grew to a conservative estimate of over 10,000 cards. There had to be a better way.

Changing the unit of issue to “hundred,” “thousand,” or “box” was seriously considered and discarded because of variable quantities per pack and types of pack — for example, loose rounds, belted, or in clips. Instead, the “M”-modifier technique was chosen as being the most practical.

Briefly, the “M”-modifier technique substitutes an “M” for the “9” in the last position of the quantity field, thereby telling the “system” (either human or machine) that the quantity in this document is expressed in thousands. Thus, 6250M in card columns 25 through 29 advises everyone who is interested that 6,250,000 rounds are required and it does so with one document. Under the former conventional method it would have taken 63 cards to start the supply reaction.

Program changes were made to existing depot and NICP computer programs to accommodate the “M”-modifier concept and on 1 July 1969, Army requisitioners worldwide began using the new indicator. Although the period for system evaluation has been rather limited and final results are not yet in, indications are that the new technique has acceptance at all echelons of supply and transportation. There are significant savings in man-hours, machine time, and materiel costs. Army ammunition depots and USAAPSA say that the “M”-modifier system is basically sound and a vast improvement over the old method of doing business. Some comment that “it seems a natural for adoption by other services with wholesale ammunition requirements.” It is planned to present this in the near future to the Defense Supply Agency for consideration by the other military services. General Services Administration, too, might be interested, not for ammunition but for other high-volume items. Proponents of the technique at LSSA, looking ahead, see a possible application of the technique to other commodities experiencing large-scale consumption rates, such as paint, wire, pipe, and similar commodities.

EPILOGUE: August 1970. Pete McGurk has now rotated back to CONUS, but one of his Spec. 5’s re-upped and is back in ‘Nam. Now when monthly requisition time rolls around, he's over at the club at a reasonable hour — thanks to an assistant — not six additional Pfc’s, but — would you believe — by something as simple as the letter “M”!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robert W. Seely was assigned to the USAMC Logistic Systems Support Agency, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, as a supply systems analyst. In 1966-1967 he was civilian chief of the Stock Control Division, 506th Field Depot, Vietnam. Earlier logistics assignments were in Germany, Japan, and Hawaii.